Trying to live with a little grace, a little humor, and great shoes.

31 Days to Shine: Fake It Till You Make It

October 24, 2013

My house is a wreck. I mean WRECK. Shambles. We are at that point in remodeling where it almost seems like it would be great to go back to the old. The new seems too far away. We’re never gonna get there.

As I write, the dust is piled around the edges of my computer all over the desk. And this is in a room with a door…the rest of the house has been hermetically sealed with plastic and tape and it’s still dirty. I’m washing dishes in the bathtub and using the toilet seat lid as a drying rack.

Besides being flat out filthy and covered with dust, the jumble of life that is everywhere, and none of it, not a single thing, has a place or is in it. When this process all began, we sat the boys down and told them that the next two months would be stressful on everyone and we needed to be patient with one another.

For a neat freak like I am, I sort of feel like this:

“Medusa” by Mikey, age 6

While I was in this condition, my six-year-old looked up at me the other night and asked “Mommy, is this one of those times you told us about that would be really stressful and we needed to be patient?”

To boot, it’s suddenly turned cold and damp outside. I needed cheering up, so I picked out something sparkly to wear to work today.

And then you all went and said such nice things about shining on the outside as well as on the inside. Which reminded me that sometimes, what’s around us (or in this case on us) can help us shine.

Even when we’re not feeling so shiny, what we surround ourselves with can make a difference whether we shine or not.

Basically, fake it till you make it.

These are some of my shiny things. Like this print that hangs in my bedroom. This gift is as delightful to me as the giver.

Bedtime stories…

Little boys hugging big strong daddies.

Those are the shiny bits of my life tonight.

What makes you feel shiny?

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You spread your sunshine all over the place. Thank you for the walk down memory lane. For many years I read, Are You My Mother, to my children at bedtime. Seeing a picture of the book just makes me smile as I fondly remember the those days and that special time.